Energy A Beginner’s Guide Part 8 pps

energy: a beginner’s guide 130 1980 1985 1990 per capita supply (1980 = 100) 1995 2000 20 60 120 100 80 40 1980 1985 1990 per capita supply (1980 = 100) 1995 2000 100 300 600 700 500 400 200 1980 1985 1990 per capita supply (1980 = 100) 1995 2000 100 300 600 500 400 200 1980 1985 1990 per capita supply (1980 = 100) 1995 2000 100 300 400 500 200 cereals pulses vegetables meat fish eggs fruit cooking oil alcohol Figure 25 China’s dietary transition, 1980–2000 ch5.064 copy 30/03/2006 2:50 PM Page 130 The best available evidence, from a variety of food consumption surveys, shows that in affluent countries about 2,000 kcal are actu- ally eaten per day per caput, with the average as low as 1,700 kcal/day for adult females and about 2,500 kcal/day for adult men. If these figures are correct, this means these countries waste 1,000–1,600 kcal per caput, or as much as forty to fifty per cent of their available supply of food energy every day. But the reported intakes may underestimate real consumption: the extraordinarily high, and rising, obesity rates (particularly in North America, where about a third of people are obese and another third overweight), can be explained only by a continual imbalance between energy need and energy supply (insufficient physical activity is, of course, also a major contributor). The second key feature of dietary transitions is a major shift in both relative and absolute contributions of basic macronutrients. energy in everyday life: from eating to emailing 131 The most far-reaching dietary change has been the universal retreat of carbohydrate staples such as cereal grains (including rice, wheat, corn, and millet) and tubers (including white and sweet potatoes, and cassava). In affluent countries, they now sup- ply just 20–30% of the average per caput energy intake, a third or half the traditional level. In Europe, this trend is shown by the declining consumption of bread, the continent’s ancient staple: for example, in France, daily per caput intake fell from 600 g a day in 1880 to just 160 g a day by the late 1990s, a seventy-five per cent drop. In Asia, rice consumption in Japan more than halved in the two post-World War II generations (to less than 60 kg annually per caput by 2000), making it an optional food item rather than a staple. A similarly rapid decline of rice intake has occurred in Taiwan, South Korea, and since the mid-1980s, China. This quanti- tative decline has been accompanied by a qualitative shift in cereal consumption, from whole grains to highly milled products (white flour). Post-1950 consumption of tubers also fell in all affluent countries, often by 50–70% compared to pre-World War II levels. The retreat of starchy staples has been accompanied by a pro- nounced decline in the eating of high-protein leguminous grains (beans, peas, chickpeas, lentils, and soybeans). These were a part of traditional diets because of their unusually high protein content DIETARY TRANSITIONS ch5.064 copy 30/03/2006 2:50 PM Page 131 Dietary transformations have changed some traditional food habits radically, and the Mediterranean diet perhaps best illustrates this. For decades, this diet has been extolled as the epitome of healthy eating with great cardiovascular benefits, and the main reason for the relatively high longevities in the region. But during the energy: a beginner’s guide 132 (twenty to twenty-five per cent for most and about forty per cent for soybeans), and every traditional society consumed them in combination with starchy staples (containing mostly just two to ten per cent protein) to obtain essential dietary amino acids. As animal proteins became more affordable, traditional legume intakes tumbled to around 1 kg in Europe and below 3 kg annually in North America and Japan. Among the more populous countries Brazil, at more than 15 kg a year (mostly black beans, feijão preto), has the highest per caput consumption of dietary legumes. Yet another key shift in carbohydrate consumption is the rising intake of refined sugar (sucrose), which was almost unknown in traditional societies, where sweetness came from fruits and honey. In some Western countries, the intake of added sugar exceeds 60 kg/caput annually (or up to twenty per cent of all food energy), mainly because of excessively sweet carbonated beverages, confectionary and baked products, and ice cream. The energy gap created by falling intakes of starchy foods has largely been filled by higher consumption of lipids and animal protein. Modern diets contain many more plant oils—both the healthy, polyunsaturated (peanut, rapeseed, and corn) and mono- unsaturated (olive) varieties, and the less desirable saturated (coconut and palm) kinds—than did traditional intakes. Meat, animal fats, fish, eggs, and dairy products provided no more than ten per cent of food energy in many traditional societies, but they now account for about thirty per cent in affluent countries. The eating of meat has changed from an occasional treat to an everyday consumption, adding up annually to as much as 120 kg/caput (bone-in weight). High-protein meat and dairy diets (with as much as sixty per cent of all protein coming from animal foods) have resulted in substantial increases in average height and weight, and reoriented the rich world’s agricultures from food crop to animal feed crop production. DIETARY TRANSITIONS (cont.) ch5.064 copy 30/03/2006 2:50 PM Page 132 two post-World War II generations, there was a gradual change to increased intake of meat, fish, butter, and cheese, and decreased con- sumption of bread, fruit, potatoes, and olive oil. For example, olive oil now provides less than forty per cent of lipids in Italy, and Spaniards now eat nearly forty-five per cent more meat than Germans (and just five per cent less than Americans). The true Mediterranean diet now survives only among elderly people in rural areas. A modern house is a structure that provides shelter, but also con- tains a growing array of energy-conversion devices that increase the comfort, ease the daily chores, and provide information and enter- tainment for its inhabitants. In colder climates, heating usually accounts for most household energy; after World War II both Europe and North America saw large-scale shifts to more con- venient, and more efficient, forms. Well-designed solid fuel (coal, wood, or multi-fuel) stoves have efficiencies in excess of thirty per cent but, much like their wasteful traditional predecessors, they still require the laborious activities of bringing the fuel, preparing the kindling, starting the fire, tending it, and disposing of the ashes. Heating with fuel oil is thus a big advance in convenience (the fuel is pumped from a delivery truck into a storage tank and flows as needed into a burner) but it has been supplanted by natural gas. energy in everyday life: from eating to emailing 133 household energies: heat, light, motion, electronics In North America, domestic furnaces heat air, which is then forced through metal ducts by an electric motor-powered fan and rises from floor registers (usually two to four per room). The best natural gas-fired furnaces are now about 97% efficient, and hence houses equipped with them do not need chimneys. In Europe hot-water systems (using fuel oil and natural gas to heat water, which circu- lates through radiators) predominate. Many Americans insist on raising their thermostats to levels that would trigger their air conditioning in summer (about 25 °C); in most countries, the desirable indoor temperature is between MODERN INDOOR HEATING AND COOLING ch5.064 copy 30/03/2006 2:50 PM Page 133 For decades, affordability or aesthetics guided house design; energy consumption only became an important factor after OPEC’s first round of price increases in 1973–4. Cumulatively impressive savings in energy consumption can come from passive solar design (orienting large windows toward the southwest to let in the low winter sun), superinsulating walls and ceilings, and installing at least double-glazed, and in cold climates triple-glazed, windows. Fiberglass batting has an insulating value about eleven times higher than the equivalent air space, and more than three times higher than a brick. Consequently, the walls of a North American energy: a beginner’s guide 134 18–21 °C. Even after their industrial achievements became the paragon of technical modernization, many Japanese did not have central heating in their homes; families congregated around the kotatsu, a sunken space containing, traditionally, a charcoal bra- zier, later replaced by kerosene, and then electric, heaters. Engineers express the annual requirement for heating as the total number of heating-degree days: one day accrues for each degree that the average outdoor daily temperature falls below the specified indoor level. American calculations, based on a room tem- perature of 20 °C, show that the coldest state, North Dakota, has about 2.6 times as many as does the warmest, Florida, while the Canadian values, based on 18 °C, show Vancouver has less than 3,000 and Winipeg nearly 6,000 heating-degree days a year. Space cooling (first as single-room window units, later as central systems) began its northward march up North America as electri- city became more affordable. Its spread changed the pattern of peak electricity consumption: previously the peaks were during the coldest and darkest winter months, but the widespread adoption of air conditioning moved short-term (hours to a couple of weeks) consumption peaks to July and August. Air conditioning is still rela- tively rare in Europe, but has spread to not only all fairly affluent tropical and subtropical places (Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan) but also to the urban middle class of monsoonal Asia (from Pakistan to the Philippines) and humid Latin America. The relative costs of heating and cooling depend, obviously, on the prevailing climate and the desired indoor temperature. MODERN INDOOR HEATING AND COOLING (cont.) ch5.064 copy 30/03/2006 2:50 PM Page 134 house framed with 4" × 6" wooden studs (2" × 4" are standard), filled with pink fiberglass, covered on the inside with gypsum sheets (drywall) and on the outside by wooden sheathing and stucco will have an insulation value about four times higher than a more sturdy looking, 10 cm thick, brick and stucco European wall. A triple- glazed window with a low-emittance coating (which keeps ultraviolet radiation inside the house), has an insulating value nearly four times as high as a single pane of glass. In hot climates, where dark roofs may get up to 50 °C warmer than the air temperature, having a highly reflective roof (painted white or made of light- colored materials), which will be just 10 °C warmer, is the best passive way to reduce the electricity needed for air-conditioning— by as much as fifty per cent. Creating a better microclimate, for example by planting trees around a house (and thus creating evapo- transpirative cooling), is another effective way to moderate summer energy needs. But what makes modern houses so distinct from their predeces- sors is the, still-expanding, array of electricity uses, which requires an elaborate distribution network to ensure reliable and safe supply, and could not work without transformers. Electricity is generated at voltages between 12.5 and 25 kV, but (as explained in chapter 1) a combination of low current and high voltage is much preferable for long-distance transmission. So, the generated low current is first transformed (stepped-up) to between 138–765 kV before being sent to distant markets, transformed again (stepped-down) to safer, lower, voltages for distribution within cities (usually 12 kV) and then stepped-down to even lower voltages (110–250 V depending on the country) for household use. Transformers can reduce or increase the voltage with almost no loss of energy, very reliably, and very quietly. They use the principle of electromagnetic induction: a loop of wire carrying an alternating current (the transformer’s primary winding) generates a fluctuating magnetic field, which induces a voltage in another loop (the sec- ondary winding) placed in the field, and vice versa. The total voltage induced in a loop is proportional to the number of its turns: if the secondary has twice as many turns as the primary, the voltage will double. Transformers range from massive devices with large cooling fins to small, bucket-size, units mounted on poles in front of houses. Household electricity use began during the 1880s with low- power lighting, and by 1920 had extended to a small selection of kitchen appliances. Refrigerators and radios came next, then energy in everyday life: from eating to emailing 135 ch5.064 copy 30/03/2006 2:50 PM Page 135 post-1950 Western affluence brought a remarkable array of electric- ally powered devices for use in kitchen and workshop, and in recre- ation and entertainment. However, no other segment of modern energy use has seen such improvements in terms of efficiency, cost, and hence affordability, as has electric lighting. During the early period of household electrification, the norm was one, low-power, incandescent light bulb (40 or 60 W) per room, so a typical house- hold had no more than about 200–300 W of lighting. Today, a new three-bedroom North American house will have twenty-five to thirty-five lights (some in groups of two to six), adding up to 1,500–2,000 W. But it would be wrong to conclude that this house receives seven times as much light: the actual figure is much higher and, moreover, the flood of new light is astonishingly cheaper. The first, Edisonian, carbon-filament light bulbs of the early 1880s converted a mere 0.15% of electricity into visible radiation, even two decades of improved design later, they were still only about 0.6% efficient. The introduction of tungsten, the first practical metallic filament and placing it in a vacuum within the bulb, raised the performance to 1.5% by 1910; filling the bulb with a mixture of nitrogen and argon brought the efficiency of common light bulbs to about 1.8% by 1913. The development of incandescent lights has been highly conservative, hence the filament light bulb you buy today is essentially the same as it was four generations ago. Despite their inefficiency and fragility, and the fact that better alternatives became widely available after World War II, incandescent light bulbs dominated the North American lighting market until the end of the twentieth century. The origin of more efficient, and hence less expensive light sources, predates World War I but discharge lamps entered the retail market only during the 1930s. Low-pressure sodium lamps came first, in 1932, followed by low-pressure mercury vapor lamps, gener- ally known as fluorescent lights. These operate on an entirely differ- ent principle from incandescent lights. Fluorescent lights are filled with low-pressure mercury vapor and their inside surfaces coated with phosphorous compounds; the electrical excitation of the mer- cury vapor generates ultraviolet rays, which are absorbed by the phosphors and re-radiated in wavelength that approximate to day- light. Today’s best indoor fluorescent lights convert about fifteen per cent of electricity into visible radiation, more than three times as much as the best incandescent lights, and they also last about twenty- five times longer (Figure 26). energy: a beginner’s guide 136 ch5.064 copy 30/03/2006 2:50 PM Page 136 Metal halide lights, introduced in the early 1960s, have a warmer color than the characteristic blue-green (cool) of early fluorescents, and are about ten per cent more efficient. Another important step was to make the discharge lights in compact sizes, and with standard fittings, so they would not require special fixtures and could replace incandescent lights in all kinds of household applications. Initially, these compact fluorescents were rather expensive but large-scale production has lowered prices. Instead of a 100 W incandescent light, all we need is a 23 W compact, which will last 10,000 hours (nearly fourteen months of continuous light). When these technical advances are combined with lower electricity prices and higher real wages, electric light appears to be stunningly cheap. In the US, the average (inflation-adjusted to 2000 values) cost of electricity fell from 325 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) in 1900, to six cents in 2000, while the average (inflation- adjusted) hourly manufacturing wage rose from $4 in 1900, to $13.90 in 2000. Factoring in efficiency improvements, a lumen of US electric light was three orders of magnitude (roughly 4,700 times) more affordable in 2000 than it was in 1900! Only the post-1970 fall in microprocessor prices offers a more stunning example of perfor- mance and affordability gains. The second most common category of household devices is appliances that pass current through high-resistance wires to gener- ate heat. The highest demand comes from electric stoves (with ovens and usually four stovetop heating elements, adding up to as much as 4 kW) and similarly sized (or even a bit more powerful) water energy in everyday life: from eating to emailing 137 compact fluorescent fluorescent low pressure sodium mercury vapor / metal halide incandescent lamp efficacy lumens/W 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 200 150 100 50 0 Figure 26 Lamp efficacy ch5.064 copy 30/03/2006 2:50 PM Page 137 heaters and clothes dryers. The ubiquitous two-slice toaster rates between 750–1000 W, and small appliances, such as contact grills and coffee makers (very popular in North America) and rice cookers and hot water thermopots (common in all but the poorest house- holds of East Asia), draw from 500–800 W. Small electric heaters are used to make cold rooms less chilly in many northern countries, but all-electric heating is common only in the world’s two leading pro- ducers of inexpensive hydroelectricity, Canada (especially in Quebec and Manitoba) and Norway (where some 60% of households rely on electric space heating). Small motors are the third important class of common house- hold electricity converter. During Canadian winters, the most important motor (rated at 400–600 W) is the one that runs the blower that distributes the air heated by the natural gas furnace in the basement. But the one that comes on most often is a similarly sized (400–800 W) motor that compresses the working fluid in a refrigerator. Small motors also convert electricity to the mechanical (rotary) power needed for many household tasks in the kitchen or a workshop previously performed by hand. The single-phase induction motor, patented by Nikola Tesla (1856–1943), in 1888 and distinguished by its characteristic squirrel-cage rotor, is the most common. These sturdy devices run for years without any maintenance, powering appliances from sharp-bladed food processors and dough mixers (around 500 W) to floor, desktop and ceiling fans (100–400 W). Finally, there is a major and diverse class of electricity converters: electronic devices. The ownership of radios, microwave ovens, and video cassette recorders is almost universal, not only in affluent countries but among the growing middle classes of Asia and Latin America. Personal computers in general, and sleek notebooks in particular, DVD players and flat-screen televisions are the latest must-have electronic items. These new electronic gadgets have small unit-power requirements: flat screen televisions draw less than 100 W, the active central processing units of desktop computers around 100 W, monitors up to 150 W, a laptop about 50 W. This means that, for example, emailing non-stop for twelve hours will consume 0.6 kWh, or as much electricity as an average clothes dryer will use in ten minutes. But given the hundreds of millions of computers (and printers, fax machines, copiers and scanners) now owned by house- holds, and the energy needed by the internet’s infrastructure (servers, routers, repeaters, amplifiers), this latest domestic electricity market energy: a beginner’s guide 138 ch5.064 copy 30/03/2006 2:50 PM Page 138 adds up already to a noticeable amount of the total electricity demand in the world’s richest countries. Electronic devices are the main reason why modern households use electricity even when everything is turned off. All remote- controlled devices (televisions, video recorders, audio systems), as well as security systems, telephone answering machines, fax machines, and garage door openers use, constantly, small (some- times more than ten watts, usually less than five) amounts of electricity. In America, in the late 1990s, these phantom loads added up to about 50 W per household, and nationwide, to more electricity than that consumed by Hong Kong or Singapore. But we can drastically reduce these losses by installing controls that limit the leakage to less than 0.1 W per device. As individual economies become more affluent, the average number of people per car is converging toward the saturation level of just above, and in some cases, even slightly less than, two. This growth in car ownership has been achieved thanks to the mass production of affordable designs of family cars. Ford’s Model T (1908–1927, a total of about fifteen million vehicles) was the trend-setter and the Volkswagen (Beetle) its single most successful embodiment. This car’s initial specifications were made by Adolf Hitler in 1933, and its production (in Germany between 1945 and 1977, then in Brazil, and until 2003 in Mexico) amounted to 21.5 million vehicles. France’s contribution was the Renault 4CV, Italy’s the Fiat Topolino and Britain’s the Austin Seven. With spreading affluence came more powerful high-performance cars, larger family cars, and, starting in the US during the 1980s, the ridiculously named sports utility vehicle (SUV: what sport is it to drive it to work or shopping center?). At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the average number of people per passenger vehicle was 2.1 in the US, 2.2 in Canada and Europe, and 2.5 in Japan. China, while rapidly modernizing, still had more than 300 people per car. The total number of passenger cars passed half a billion in 2000; Europe had more than the US and Canada (Figure 27). There were also 200 million commercial vehicles, from government-owned vans to heavy trucks. Recent annual net increments have been more than thirty million vehicles. The con- tinuing consolidation of large-scale car production means that the energy in everyday life: from eating to emailing 139 transport energies: road vehicles and trains ch5.064 copy 30/03/2006 2:50 PM Page 139 [...]... improvements has made modern engines and transmissions lighter, more durable and more reliable, and vehicles more affordable The widespread use of microprocessors (American cars now have as many as fifty, with a combined power greater than that of the processors in the 1969 Apollo 11 lunar landing module) to control automatic transmission, anti-lock brakes, catalytic converters, and airbags has made cars more... maximum speed to no more than 110 km/h In contrast, the fastest rapid intercity trains now travel at up to 300 km/h, and each of them can carry more than 1,000 passengers in comfortable, airline-style seats They have an accident rate nearly an order of magnitude lower than driving, and no form of land transport can match their low energy cost per p-km (nearly always below 1 MJ) The Japanese shinkansen,... km/h In contrast, Amtrak’s New York to Washington Acela, with a peak speed of 257 km/h, remains North America’s only rapid train service, a singularity explained by low population density and highly competitive road and air links But every large metropolitan area in North America, Europe and Japan has several major lines, and many have fairly dense networks of slower commuter trains powered either by... A3 80 is a key strategic move by Airbus (established in 1970) as the two companies fight for dominance in the global market for large passenger aircraft In 2003 Airbus was, for the first time, slightly ahead of Boeing in terms of overall annual orders for large passenger planes Its most common planes are the smaller A3 19 and A3 20 (125–150 passengers) and the long-range, four-engine A3 40 for 300–370 passengers... increases There, the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards doubled the fleet’s performance to 27.5 mpg (8. 6 l/100 km) between 1973 and 1 987 : better engines and transmissions, lighter yet stronger bodies, and reduced aerodynamic drag were the main factors Japanese automotive innovations were particularly important for making efficient, reliable and affordable cars In the 1990s, Toyotas (basic... PM Page 140 energy: a beginner’s guide Figure 27 Global motor vehicle registrations four largest makers (in 2005 General Motors, Toyota-Daihatsu, Ford and Daimler-Chrysler) now assemble nearly half of the world’s automobiles The typical use varies widely, from less than 5,000 km a year in some crowded Asian cities, to just above 10,000 km in major European countries (a rate that has been fairly steady... 747-400 photographed at Los Angeles International Airport ch5.064 copy 1 48 30/03/2006 2:51 PM Page 1 48 energy: a beginner’s guide energy density (35.1 compared to 31.0 MJ/l) so more can be stored in available tanks, as a heavier refined fuel it is cheaper, it has lower evaporation losses at high altitudes, a lower risk of fire during ground handling, and produces more survivable crash fires Jet A fuel, used... emissions are the principal cause of the photochemical smog that now affects, seasonally or continuously, almost all megacities and their surrounding areas (an increasing incidence of respiratory problems and damage to crops are its major impacts) ch5.064 copy 30/03/2006 2:51 PM Page 141 energy in everyday life: from eating to emailing 141 The fundamentals of the world’s most abundant mechanical prime... 2:51 PM Page 143 energy in everyday life: from eating to emailing 143 Standard fuel economy ratings are established during controlled tests, which simulate city and highway driving Actual performance in everyday driving is rarely that good What can we do to improve it? Under-inflated tires are probably the most common cause of easily avoidable energy loss: their flexing absorbs energy, and their larger... aluminum alloys, entirely new composite materials, advances in aerodynamic design, and ingenious electronic navigation and landing devices (radar above all), were the essential ingredients but better engines made the greatest difference All jet airplanes are propelled forward as a reaction to the backward thrust of their engines The first commercial planes, of the 1950s, used slightly modified military . countries about 2,000 kcal are actu- ally eaten per day per caput, with the average as low as 1,700 kcal/day for adult females and about 2,500 kcal/day for adult men. If these figures are correct,. that the coldest state, North Dakota, has about 2.6 times as many as does the warmest, Florida, while the Canadian values, based on 18 °C, show Vancouver has less than 3,000 and Winipeg nearly. places (Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan) but also to the urban middle class of monsoonal Asia (from Pakistan to the Philippines) and humid Latin America. The relative costs of heating and cooling